Garbage grinder, including canted rotary cutting elements and canted fixed cutting masks



March 21, 1950 y R. D HELLER 2,501,275

GARBAGE GRINDER INCLUDING CANTED ROTARY CUTTING ELEMENTS AND CANTED FIXED CUTT-ING MASKS 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Oct 28, 1946 RICHARD D. HELLER March 21, 1950 R. D. HELLER 2,501,275

GARBAGE GRINDER INCLUDING CANTE ROTARY CUTTING ELEMENTS AND CANTED FIXED CUTTING MASKS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed 001;. 28, 1946 Snnentor RICHARD D. HELLER Gttorncgs Patented Mar-.21, 1950 um'rso srA'rss PATENT OFFICE 2,501,275 GARBAGE GRINDER, INCLUDING CANTED ROTARY CUTTING ELEMENTS AND CANTED FIXED CUTTING MASKS Richard D. Heller, 'lujunga, Calif. v Application October 28, 1916, Serial N0. 708,165

14 Claims. 1

The present invention. though referred to for convenience as a grinder, operates not by reason of any frictional eflect, as the term grinding" infers. but concerns more precisely a machine 7 which by attrition or fretting continuously separates small particles from a larger mass, until the latter is fretted away. The small particles are themselves of appreciable size, so that the operation, strictly speaking, is not pulverization nor comminution, but rather a chewing or slicing axis of rotation, and of the rapid changes of angularity of one such element relative to the other as rotation continues, to repeatedly entrap and fret or slice away small particles from a larger mass presented to such elements. In another form several such pairs of elements, to which the mass is somewhat differently presented, operate simultaneously thereupon to grind the mass rapidly into small particles.

, It is an object of the present invention to provide means whereby many and varied materials may be chewed away or ground up to small particles for ultimate disposition as such. For example, the present invention is suitable for use as a grinder for garbage or similar waste, so that it may, when ground small enough, be washed i away down the drain. In another example the jipateriai being ground may be meat, and it may igmerge from the grinder in the familiar form of .{ground beef.

grinding disks act upon them and meter their discharge.

to a degree by the amount of inclination of the plane of the rotative element relative to its axis of rotation, and by its speed of rotation.

In similar fashion a further object is to provide such a grinder capable of progressive grinding to smaller sizes by choice of the diameter, angle of inclination to the axis, and like factors, as between successively encountered rotative disks, with intervening hoppers to hold back dis- It is also an object to provide such a grinder in which a disk, in addition to operating as indicated above, will efl'ect some. degree of abrasion, so that the material may be better presented to the lcooperating severing edges of the disk and mas The above is by no means an exhaustive tabulation of the objects of the invention, but will serve to afford a sufilciently clear idea, for the present, 01' the purposes of the invention, and further objects, and the constructional form, and

other purposes, will be ascertainable as this specification progresses, or will suggest themselves to one skilled in this art.

The invention is embodied in the novel grinder in the several forms shown in the accompanying drawings, described in this specification, and as will be more particularly pointed out by the claims which terminate the same.

In the accompanying drawings the invention has been shown in several typical forms of arrangement, each suited to efl'ect a particular purpose.

Figure 1 is an axial sectional view through the grinder, arranged for progressive grinding to smaller size, and intended for grinding up kitchen waste or the like, and Figure 2 is a similar view,

showing parts, however, after of rotation.

Figure 3 is a face view of a grinder disk, such as is employed in the form of Figures 1 and 2, and

Figure 4 is an axial section thereof, substantially along the line 44 of Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a vertical axial section through a somewhat more complex form of the grinder, arranged in this instance for grinding meat or the like, and Figure 6 is a transverse vertical sectional view of the same. substantially along the line 6-6 of Figure 5.

In its elemental form the invention is quite simple, involving a rotative shaft 3, driven, for example, by the motor 30, a rotative disk i fast thereupon for rotation therewith, asby mounting it upon the noncircular terminal portion 3| of the shaft, and a. mask 2, which extends about (in Figures 1 and 2 entirely about) the margin of the disk I. The disk is substantially circular, but instead of being arranged in a plane normal to the axis of rotation, it is canted or inclined with respect to that axis, and so, when it rotates, it appears to wobble. One high point sweeps through a given orbit, and the opposite high point sweeps through a different orbit, spaced axially from the orbit of the first.

Moreover, the mask 2 is similarly canted, and normally it would be canted in the same plane and to the same degree as the disk I. The planes of the mask and disk would thus coincide once charge of over-size particles until the finer so during each revolution of the disk. At other 3 times the plane oi the disk departs irom the plane of the mask, and then approaches the mask's plane again. ThusinPigureQ the diskis inthe same plane with the mask, whereas in Figure l, aiter 180' of rotation. the two appear spaced apart, in crossing planes, to leave a gap is between them, into which material being ground up can be extruded by pressure irom above, or

by gravity. The edge Ii oi the disk preierably stands up axially, and is sharpened, and likewise the edges II of the mask are sharpened, and these edges II and II cooperate as shears as they approach during rotation. to shear oi! material extruded into the gap It. The maximum width oi this gap is determined by the anguiarity in relation to the diameter oi the disk. as cambe seen at a glance by comparison oi the upper and lower .disksinFlgure 1.

The cutting edge ll oi the rotative disk may be somewhat modified irom the even iorm shown in the lower disk of Figures 1 and 2, in order to magnify and multiply the shearing efiect. Thus in Figures 3 and 4 one iorm oi the disk is shown in detail, and here, at II, the edge ll rises sharply irom a somewhat cut-away area it oi its end iace (see also Figure 1). In addition, ior uses where the material to be ground is presented to the end iace oi the disk, this end iace may be somewhat flattened oil to a lesser angle relative to the axis, and provided with grooves i4 and transverse or radial notches is acting to abrade the material-bones, ior instance-presented to this end face, in order that they may the more readily be cut into small portions or particles ior extrusion through the gap ill and severance by the edge. H, l2. Each notch in the edge Ii acts somewhat as a saw tooth, and tha'edge is relieved behind each notch to permit the mass to approach closer and occupy the space immediately previously occupied by a severed particle.

' Before departing from the form shown in Figures 1 and 2 it may be pointed out that the masks I are disposed one above the other within a casing 4, including anentrance chute ll and a waste outlet 4!. The material to be ground enters at II, is guided by the hopper-like casing 4 to the upper and lower disks in turn, and when it 1 the latter, is washed out through the outlet 42.

Moreover, the lower disk serves to meter the discharge to the outlet 42. Usually its gap II is less than the gap at the upper disk (by reason oi the lesser diameter or lesser inclination of the lower disk, either or both), and particles severed by the upper disk which are so large that it is undesirable to permit them to pass immediately to the outlet 42 collect in the hopper space be-- tween the two disks, and are ground tosmaller size by the lower disk, which permits only a metered amount, and pieces oi small size, to pass it. This lower disk, by such metering action, smooths. out the rate oi discharge, preventing the passage oi large masses, even of soit material, which might tend to choke the outlet or drain, and thus it maintains a more regular rate of discharge, 'even though the upper disk, because it must have the capacity to grind up hard materials rapidly, would tend to pass softer materials so much more rapidly that, unchecked, they might have such a clog lns tendency.

Provision may be made ior continuously supplying water to wash away the ground up material, if desired, but since this is no part of the present invention it has not been illustrated. The assembly illustrated iacilitates disassembly ior access to the interior, or ior replacement oi worn parts, or a disk and mask oi diiierent diameter or inclination can be substituted, ii finer or coarser final grinding is desired, or a difierent metering rate. 5 The form of the device in Figures 5 and 6 is the same in principle, except that a plurality oi the disks i is provided, closely spaced along the shaft 3 or along the noncircular portion ii thereof, which in this instance is supported horizontally in bearings 43 in the hopper-like casing I. The masks 2 are similarly closely spaced, and both the disks and masks are canted, though maintained preferably in parallel planes. The masks do not, in this form, each extend completely about is the periphery oi its disk, but only part way, or, as shown, about hali way around the disk, and the material may enter between the disks and at one end at the set oi masks. The spacing oi the disks is such, with respect to their inclination and go diameter, that the high portion at one side oi a given disk will sweep through the orbit oi the opposite high portionoi the adjoining disk, and similarly the other high point of the given disk will sweep the orbit of the adjoining disk at its side. This is shown best by the dot-dash lines in Figure 5.

Material presented to this form of the device will be engaged by many disks, will be carried in the direction of rotation shown by the arrow in Figure 6, and will be extruded between the disks and the masks, which latter in this instance form a sort of grillwork closing the bottom oi the hopper 4. In addition a deflector 44 may be employed to guide the downwardly moving maas terial into the disks. when the material has been ground up it will be received in the drawer or receiver 45, whence it can be removed when all the material has been ground.

It is desired to point out that the disks appear so completely circular when viewed axially. Actually they are not exactly circular, but somewhat elliptical, as must be true when it is remembered that they are inclined with respect to their axis oi rotation, and yet the sweep oi their margins 45 defines a cylinder of revolution. Their marginal edges, moreover, should lie preferably in this cylinder of revolution, that is, parallel to the axis oi rotation, and not perpendicular to the end iace oi the disk. Each disk has severing edges upon its. opposite faces, in part ior better balance, but

also in order that when one edge ll becomes dull the disk can be turned over to present the of rotation oi the disks. Such variants aiiord the possibility of widely varying the size of the chewed-oi! particles without variation of the di-- ameter, slant, speed, or other characteristics oi the disks.

At the outset oi this specification an analogy was drawn between the present device and the conventional meat grinder. It is now clear that the present device is distinguishable, in its eiiect, from a meat grinder, in that the meat particles are not. as in the conventional meat grinder, mashed and the cells broken down, with'the Juice expressed and lost, and the ground mass hit with a rather negative flavor, but rather in thepresent device the particles are individually severed flavor and palatability of the original meat.

I claim as my invention: 1. A grinder comprising a disk the plane wherek of is canted relative to an axis of rotation which extends through the center of the disk, and a coaxial mask the peripheral edge whereof closely surrounds the disk, and which is similarly canted relative to such axis, means to eflect relative rotation between the mask and disk about such axis, the thickness of the disk and mask at their peripheral edges, and their respective angles of cant, being such as to open a gap between their peripheral edges when the two are in a first, oppositely canted rotative position, and to close such gap by relative rotation to a. second rotative position 180 removed from the first, and means so to effect such relative rotation, and thereby to effect repeated opening and closing of such gap.

2. A grinder as in claim 1, wherein the cooperating peripheral edges of the disk and mask are sharp, to engage and shear off interposed material as the gap closes.

3. A grinder as in claim 1, wherein the angles of cant of the disk and mask are substantially identical, and they are disposed relatively, along the axis of rotation, to substantially coincide in plane in the second rotative position.

4. A grinder as in claim 1, wherein the mask is stationary and the disk is rotative.

5. A grinder as in claim 1, including a housing the second disk and mask, coniointly with the thinness, of similar cant, and which, when viewed in the direction of such axis, is generally circular and of a diameter which closely approximates that of the masks aperture, the disk being located to substantially coincide with the plane of the edges of the masks aperture, when in a first rotated position, and to be spaced therefrom to define gaps above and below the masks aperture in a second position rotated 180 from the first position, and means so to rotate'the disk, to repeatedly open and close such gaps.

'7. A grinder as in claim 1, wherein the end face of the disk at one side of a diameter lies more nearly in a plane normal to the axis than the disk as a whole, and is roughened to abrade a mass presented thereto.

8. A grinder as in claim 7, wherein the disk margin leading to such roughened area is formed as an upstanding marginal rib faired into the margin of such roughened area.

9. A grinder as in claim 1, including a second disk spaced axially below the first disk and also canted relative to the same axis, a second mask similarly arranged relative to said second disk, said second disk and mask being organized and arranged to pass only particles smaller than the maximum size that will pass the upper disk and mask, means to eiiect relative rotation between first, and casing means to lead material to be ground in succession to the upper" and then to the lower mask.

10. A grinder as in claim 9, wherein the lower disk and mask are canted at substantially the same angle relative to the axis as are the upper disk and mask to such axis but are of lesser diameter, whereby the maximum gap between the cooperating peripheries of the second disk and its mask is less than the corresponding gap between the upper disk and its mask.

11. A grinder as in claim 9, wherein the two disks are rotative and their masks are stationary, and characterized in that the two disks and masks are mutually oppositely canted relative to the axis of rotation.

12. A grinder comprising a rotative shaft, a plurality of circular disks closely spaced therealong and fast thereto, all said disks having their planes canted in the same direction and by like amounts relative to the shafts axis, a fixed mask closely embracing the periphery of each disk, and canted similarly to its disk in one position of the latter, and cooperating with the margin of its disk for severing particles from a mass presented to said disks and their masks.

13. A grinder comprising a rotative shaft, a plurality of circular disks closely spaced therealong and fast thereto, all said disks having their planes canted in the same direction and by like amounts relative to the shaft's axis, a fixed mask closely embracing the periphery of each disk, and canted similarly to its disk, to come into planar coincidence therewith in one position of the latter, and cooperating with the margin of its disk to open a gap therebetween by rotation beyond such position of planar coincidence, for severing particles from a. mass presented to said disks and their masks, the axial pacing of the disks being such, relative to their canting upon the shaft, that one portion of an intermediate disks periphery sweeps within the orbit of the adjoining disk at one side. and a second portion of the intermediate disks periphery sweeps within the orbit of the adjoining disk at the opposite side.

14. A grinder comprising a hopper-like casing, a rotative shaft horizontally disposed transversely across its bottom, a plurality of circular disks, having sharp marginal edges, closely aifixed along said shaft for rotation thereby, all said disks lying in parallel planes canted relative to the shaft's axis by an amount in excess of the thickness of such disk, and a like number of sharpedged masks, one to each disk of similar thickness and similarly canted, embracing the lower portion of the periphery of said disks.

RICHARD D. HELLER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Certificated Correction Patent No. 2,501,275 I March 21, 1950 RICHARD D. HELLER It'is hereby certified that errors appear in the printed specification of the above numbered patent requlrmg correctmn as follows: 7

Column 6, line 8, sfter "axis insert a. comrna' line 56, strike out the comma. and words one to each dlsk and msert the some 1n hne 57 after the syllable ness and before "and; same lme 57; before andi msert a comma;

and that the said Letters Patent should be read with these corrections therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Oflice.

Signed and sealed this 20th day of June, A. D. 1950.

[sun] moms F. MURPHY,

Assistant Commissioner of PM. 

